MAC address
A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This identifier is used for making hardware-level addressing possible within the network structure. MAC addresses are used in the medium access control protocol sublayer of the data link layer in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model[2].
MAC addresses are typically represented as six groups of two hexadecimal digits, which can be separated by hyphens, colons, or presented without a separator. For example, a MAC address could be written as 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E or 00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E. Each MAC address is theoretically unique to each NIC, and they are usually assigned by the device manufacturer, a process that leads to them being referred to as the burned-in address (BIA) or hardware address[2][4].
The address includes a manufacturer’s organizationally unique identifier (OUI), and MAC addresses are formed according to the principles of two numbering spaces based on extended unique identifiers (EUIs): EUI-48 and EUI-64. While MAC addresses are primarily used for local network addressing, they can be changed in many network interfaces for various reasons, such as enhancing security or privacy[2].
In the context of networking technologies like Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, which follow IEEE 802 standards, the MAC address plays a crucial role in enabling the physical addressing of devices and facilitating the flow of data packets between devices on the same local network[2].
Citations:
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mac
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address
[3] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/mac
[4] https://slts.osu.edu/articles/whats-a-mac-address-and-how-do-i-find-it/
[5] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/mac
[6] https://bluecatnetworks.com/blog/mac-address-vs-ip-address-whats-the-difference/
[7] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mac
[8] https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/net-macaddress.html.en
[9] https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/MAC-address
[10] https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/mac-address-in-computer-network/
[11] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/mac_1
[12] https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/mac-address
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac
[14] https://www.simplilearn.com/what-is-mac-address-how-to-find-it-article